Rescue
I had nearly finished my duty when a ‘vulnerable missing person’ was reported. Several units were dispatched to where the missing female was likely to be, one spot being at the edge of a cliff. My colleague and I couldn’t believe our luck when we discovered the missing person’s car parked in the car-park of the lookout.
Updating Comms, we decided to split up and cover the main areas of the park. After several minutes of fruitless searching we decided to go right down to the cliff, which we had been advised not to go too close to, as it was unstable.
Then I saw a lone female standing right at the edge of the cliff. As I approached from one side, I signaled my colleague to go from the other - this would split her attention and divert her from doing anything silly.
Unfortunately, my luck had gone off-duty as my portable radio started to transmit merely feet from her. I sighed as she turned to notice me from wherever her mind had gone, then faced forward and leapt. I ran and managed to grab hold of her upper arms, falling backwards myself so as not to meet my Maker prematurely.
Her legs were dangling over the edge along with the majority of her torso and I sat with my legs dangling in the ether as well. I continued to grapple with her, holding on as she struggled. My colleague got there and helped me pull her a metre or so up the cliff.
Another officer arrived at this point, having heard our shouts for assistance. To get the lady to safety, I took hold of one arm while another officer took hold of the other. The third officer, though, went to her legs - silly move. She kicked and thrashed and, as the officer at the leg end was next to the cliff, he was being thrown back and forth over the edge. Thankfully, the lady was eventually brought up, taken gently to a patrol car and removed for mental health assessment.
The best bit, though, was receiving a Christmas card from her two young children, thanking both myself and my colleagues for saving her life, so they still had a mum. Nothing comes close to making that sort of difference.